Boston Strive: Prepared to Work / Determined to Succeed

History

Boston Employment Service, (DBA, STRIVE), was founded in 1994 by a team of 12 individuals with a desire to help chronically unemployed men and women realize their potential to find and keep jobs that promise sustainable livelihoods and personal growth. The team included business managers, nonprofit heads, university professors and law firm partners who enlisted the initial backing of some three-dozen donors. From 1994 through 2010, STRIVE graduated 3,875 participants from training, and through 2011 placed more than 3,800 in jobs. STRIVE’s workforce model includes job readiness training, financial literacy, computer literacy, GED (General Equivalency Diploma) instruction, college prep courses and opportunities to pursue college education. It has two training centers, one in Dorchester and the other in Roxbury. Over the years since it opened over 200 corporations, foundations, churches and individuals contributed over $11.9 million to STRIVE.

The STRIVE employment model was introduced in New York in 1984. The characteristics that set the model apart are its five-week intensive attitudinal training and its two years of graduate follow-up of continued support and assessment. Together, these produce low costs, fast entry into the workforce, and high job retention rates. Because of the effectiveness of this approach, STRIVE has been featured on "60 Minutes " three times since 1997. Elements of the model have been widely adopted throughout the employment field in the U.S.

Boston STRIVE was the fourth affiliate after New York City, Pittsburgh, and Chicago. STRIVE centers are located in 20 U.S. cities, as well as international locations in London; Derry, Northern Ireland; Dunbartonshire, Scotland; Tel-Aviv, Israel, and plans for South Africa.

STRIVE Timeline

1994	Launched in quarters loaned by Federated Orchestra Neighborhood Houses.
1998	Moved into its own newly renovated space on Washington Street in Dorchester.
1999	Opened a newly built second site at the Ruggles "T" Station in Roxbury.
1999	STRIVE helped open a unit under Pine Street Inn management at its headquarters on Harrison Street in Boston's South End.
2002	Dorchester site was expanded by 50%.
2010	Graduated over 3,800 participants from its training classes and placed 3,300 in jobs.